By Mary Lou Masters
Daily Caller News Foundation
'If you know the answer, I'd love to know it'
Many involved in the GOP’s 2024 efforts are growing worried over the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) finances as major donations have dropped ahead of next year’s election, the Washington Post reported Monday.
The RNC reported its lowest amount of cash on hand since 2015 on Oct. 30 at only $9.1 million, compared to the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) $17.7 million, according to the Post. Party members, former President Donald Trump’s advisers and others involved in the GOP’s efforts voiced concern to the outlet over the RNC’s fundraising, as the committee brought in roughly $20 million and $61 million during the same points in the 2016 and 2020 election cycles, respectively.
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“It’s a revenue problem,” Oscar Brock, an RNC member in Tennessee, told the Post. “We’re going through the same efforts we always go through to raise money: the same donor meetings, retreats, digital advertising, direct mail. But the return is much lower this year. If you know the answer, I’d love to know it. The staff has managed to tighten down on expenses to keep the party from going into the red.”
The RNC has seen a drop in large- and small-dollar donations in recent years, as some are either reluctant to contribute so as not to help elevate Trump or are holding off until 2024, sources familiar with the GOP’s finances told the Post. Others are concerned about the party’s leadership and recent electoral losses.
“The RNC’s electoral record since 2017 speaks for itself,” Patti Lyman, a Virginia RNC member who opposed RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s most recent reelection, told the Post. “The damage from that chair election goes far beyond the drop in donations. Our base was demoralized.”
RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, third from left, appears at the U.S. border with Mexico in Hidalgo, Texas, on Sunday, Jan. 8. 2023. (Courtesy Twitter / Ronna Romney McDaniel)
Many have placed blame on the RNC for the GOP’s losses in the Nov. 7 off-year elections, including Virginia’s contentious legislative races, Kentucky’s governor race and the passage of an abortion ballot measure in Ohio. The committee has also garnered criticism for its handling of the Republican presidential primary debates, which the former president has since called on them to cancel.
McDaniel believes donors are contributing more to presidential campaigns than they are to the committee, which she argued to the outlet will likely change once the GOP picks its nominee next year.
“I think there’s more donors just fully committed to their candidate right now, saying I am all in, and once the nominee is set, I’ll be there. That’s what I hear more than anything. And they’re really solidly in the camps of their candidate, which is normal,” McDaniel told the Post. “There’s nothing unusual about this, because they know that once their candidate gets in that we will merge and that we’ll be working together to win the White House.”
An RNC spokesperson emphasized the committee’s efforts in 15 battleground states, where the committee has deployed get-out-the-vote efforts, according to the Post. The GOP is also hoping to utilize early and mail-in voting for 2024 and is challenging 19 states’ voting rules in 70 lawsuits.
Neither the RNC nor Trump immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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